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Ad Age: Edelman Eats Humble Pie

From Advertising Age:

It’s ironic that Edelman Worldwide helped to write the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s code of ethics, which states: “Honesty of identity: You never obscure your identity.”

Ironic, of course, because the independent firm was publicly slapped—and publicly apologized—for being the force behind the Wal-Marting Across America blog that was unmasked as a fake created and paid for by Edelman.

“This was definitely an avoidable mistake,” said Paul Rand, who leads the communications committee for WOMMA and is a partner at Ketchum public-relations firm, a division of Omnicom Group. “One of the challenges of being a pioneer is you are the first in line to catch the arrows. The only way companies are going to learn what not to do is by someone else making the mistake first.”

‘Failing to be transparent’

In a rare mea culpa, principal Richard Edelman apologized publicly for the “error in failing to be transparent about the identity of the two bloggers from the outset. This is 100% our responsibility and our error, not the client’s.” The bloggers were freelance writer Laura St. Claire and Washington Post photographer Jim Thresher, as first reported in a BusinessWeek story.

With many marketing practitioners quaking at the prospect of consumer-generated content, Edelman stood apart as a firm with at least some definitive answers. There were roundtable discussions such as “Why Blogging Can’t be Ignored,” and a series of articles with titles such as “Public RelationSHIPS: Communications in the Age of Personal Media” were created in partnership with Technorati, a blog buzz-tracking service. Even Mr. Edelman got into the game, writing his own blog, dubbed 6 A.M.

Now, however, Edelman is being aligned with a newly coined word for its present crisis: flog, a play on words to demarcate the fuzzy line between the fake (paid-for) and real posts out there in the unruly blogosphere. In fact, the Wal-Mart/Edelman blog fiasco could end up as the case study on how not to navigate the blogosphere, said Nielsen Buzzmetrics Chief Marketing Officer Pete Blackshaw.

“Everyone wanted to co-opt the conversation,” Mr. Blackshaw said. “They wanted to make it a marketing vehicle and not a listening vehicle. I hope the marketers internalize what this means for best practices.”

PR damage

To recover from the PR damage, Mr. Blackshaw said, Edelman must “shape a much clearer definition of transparency.” He added: “On the surface, they are contrite, apologetic and embarrassed, as anyone in the PR business is going to be embarrassed by their own PR crisis. The question is: To what extent is this incident going to help them take positive steps toward change?”

Edelman’s Steve Rubel, a senior VP who launched the firm’s much-lauded Me2Revolution practice and also writes for Advertising Age’s Digital, has distanced himself from the Wal-Mart blog, noting: “I had no personal role in this project.” Both he and Mr. Edelman also reiterated their support for the WOMMA guidelines on transparency.

Despite the contrite apology from Mr. Edelman, the criticism continues to fly in the blogosphere, with many picking apart the apology as well. “And so, what, we’re supposed to say, ‘Okay, Richard, all is good in Edelman-land again?’ If you were newbies just getting your proverbial feet wet in the blogosphere, that’d be one thing, but for your agency, one that prides itself on being plugged in to the Web 2.0/social-media world, to have made this sort of crass mistake is a bit shocking,” wrote blogger and author Steve Taylor. His was one of many comments in a lengthy thread responding to Mr. Edelman’s apology, posted Monday.

Engaged in the conversation

Notably, Mr. Edelman has actively engaged in the conversation and expanded on his apology numerous times in additional posts throughout the week. It’s clear from these responses he still hopes to tie his firm’s reputation to its leadership on the social-media front.

“I hope Edelman uses this case to become a stronger company and a better leader for social media,” one poster said, to which Mr. Edelman responded: “We will try like heck to make that happen.”

In another post, Mr. Edelman gave a laundry list of actions he is taking, including sending the “Me2Revolution gang ... on the road to all of our office[s] to explain our standard for transparency. We are making this a core part of Edelman University. We are going to have a central clearinghouse for social-media programs. We will walk the talk!”

Despite harsh responses from bloggers, some of whom called for Mr. Edelman to resign and for WOMMA to expel the firm as a member, many have leapt to Edelman’s defense, including WOMMA itself.

Global training program

“[Edelman] has committed itself to a global training program to ensure that all of its employees and subcontractors fully adhere to the WOMMA Ethics Code, and to establishing mechanisms to assure compliance. ... We are assured by Edelman management’s public actions to accept full responsibility [and] pledge to make certain that the error will not be repeated,” read a statement on the organization’s website.

When asked why WOMMA did not take any action against Edelman, the organization’s CEO, Andy Sernovitz, said: “We aren’t the police. Associations don’t punish. And look, PRSA didn’t even say a word, and they are the PR association.” He added: “We are all in uncharted waters. Mistakes will be made. The complexity of all this social media is that it doesn’t have the controls of traditional marketing.”

In explaining how such a mistake could happen, Mr. Rand of Ketchum noted that in recent interviews with candidates for Ketchum’s new media public-relations practice, many “are boastful about how they go into blogs and post anonymously and have great success. These are thoughtful, smart people, but they thought this was OK.”

Posted by Laura Jack on Friday, October 20, 2006

Click Here for a Printer-Friendly Version

COMMENTS

Now the world knows how much it takes to buy this guy Edelman. Unfortunately Edelman forgot the one thing you can’t buy back is integrity and trust!

NTD in
Friday, October 20 at 09:32 AM

This just goes to show that any praise placed on Wal-Mart is produced, packaged and paid for through the Bentonville Beast.

John Nunes in San Ramon, CA
Friday, October 20 at 10:40 AM

That’s right John. I’ll bet that half of the pro-Walmart posts are right out of their home office.

Remember Jonquiere Quebec.
Home of Walmart worker abuse.
Forever shame on you Walmart.

Alex in Ontario, Canada
Friday, October 20 at 01:35 PM

“I’ll bet that half of the pro-Walmart posts are right out of their home office. “

Just like posts from you, Power, Evilwalmart, Generic and other anti-walmart posters since you guys are paid to post by the unions? <g>

-Richard K

Richard K in
Friday, October 20 at 02:31 PM

Quit ALL the doublespeak please!

“Failing to be transparent.” How about simply telling the truth,--- Edelman lied!

ScrewedbyWal-Mart in Anytown, America
Friday, October 20 at 02:43 PM

ScrewedbyWal-mart,

““Failing to be transparent.” How about simply telling the truth,--- Edelman lied! “

I absolutely agree!!!! Edelman has been an embarrasment and it does boggle the mind that Walmart continues to have an arrangement with them. Walmart has some serious PR issues and Edelman has been nothing but more of a burden.

-Richard K

Richard K in
Friday, October 20 at 05:39 PM

Richard K-

Wish you wouldn’t label all anti-Walmart posters as union.
I am not pro union but consider myself to be pro american, not pro offshore. Also I am pro small business of which Walmart destroys so many every year.

Union workers may demand more money but they have done more for this country than any citizen of China ever did.

I think that one thing that union workers could do is set a good example of staying out of Walmart stores which are anti-union. I hope all union workers are united on this thought because I have seen some in Walmart stores and it is discouraging to me.

Ole Tech

Ole Tech in
Friday, October 20 at 06:46 PM

Richard K-

Sorry I mispoke......

I said “I think that one thing that union workers could do is set a good example of staying out of Walmart stores which are anti-union. I hope all union workers are united on this thought because I have seen some in Walmart stores and it is discouraging to me. “

I should have said that I know of a couple instances where Union workers shop or shopped at Walmart.

I have not shopped in Walmart for about 6 months.

The way I posted it one might think I still shop at Walmart.

Ole Tech

ole tech in
Friday, October 20 at 08:16 PM

Ole Tech in,

You completely missed the sarcasm in my post. I was responding to Alex’s post because he basically said pro-walmarters are supported by Walmart’s “home office”.

I don’t believe for a minute that all, or any, of the anti-walmarters are union or paid by the union. I have no idea nor do I care. If you’re paid then great for you. I know for a fact that I am not paid by anyone to be here. All I want to find is constructive discussion by both sides.

-Richard K

Richard K in
Friday, October 20 at 10:15 PM

ole tech,

You have to understand, that people like Alex, when they have no decent response to things, they start the old “You must be getting paid by Wal-Mart” response. I do not and never have worked for Wal-Mart, I just care about maintaining Free Enterprize. I do not want to see the government dictating which businesses should be allowed to operate in this country and how they MUST run those businesses.

As for small business, that is the backbone of this country and where Wal-Mart came from, but, I want to see small business succeed through innovation, efficiency and hard work, not by some governmental interferrence, giving them some sort of preferencial treatment. Sam Walton took on the big guys, why can’t these new small businesses. Things don’t change, until someone finds ‘new’ ways to do things.

Unions were good things in the past, but, they pushed things to the outer limits over the years and now we are seeing the fallout from this, in the auto industry, airline industry, etc., who are facing bankrupsty and ending up closing plants and laying off workers, because they can no longer keep up with the legacy costs, from all the union demands of the past. As the old saying goes, “their chickens have come home to roost”.

What we need, is for some retail business to come up with some ‘new’ ideas and actually ‘compete’ with Wal-Mart. If things are as bad at Wal-Mart, as people say they are, this shouldn’t be too difficult, right?

Bob in
Friday, October 20 at 10:57 PM

Now Bob, I said that half the WM bloggers are right out of home office. Not all. Also I stand by that opinion.
I am not paid by any union, but If I was I would say it. I always direct the mistreated workers of WM to get in contact with a local union that is interested in retail in their area.
If I was paid then there would be more of a chance I would say one union or another. Anyway I am not too concerned about that subject.
The good news is I had to travel with someone on Wed of this week. I know this person shops at WM and it was an excellent opportunity to talk about this subject. I think they are still going to shop there however the did agree that WM is probably one of the worst employers out there. This is called planting the seed.

Remember Jonquiere, home of Walmart worker abuse.

Alex in Ontario, Canada
Saturday, October 21 at 08:09 AM

Alex,

OK, please tell all of us.. Name the “half” of the WM bloggers who are right out of the home office. While you are at it, and since you are so knowledgable since you know all about Jonquiere, please tell us who on the anti-walmart blogger list is either paid or directed by the union.

I’m looking forward to your answer since you brought it up (again).

-Richard K

Richard K in
Saturday, October 21 at 09:11 AM

Can’t. Said it was my opinion.
Now you Richard, DID say that Power, Evilwalmart and Generic ARE paid.
Answer your own question. Show how you KNOW that they are paid.

On to important matters.
Remember Jonquiere Quebec.
Home of Walmart worker abuse.

Alex in Ontario, Canada
Saturday, October 21 at 10:12 AM

Alex-

Richard K said:

You completely missed the sarcasm in my post.

...

I don’t believe for a minute that all, or any, of the anti-walmarters are union or paid by the union.

Someone in USA
Saturday, October 21 at 12:52 PM

I wish I was paid (if anyone knows how to arrange this than please let me know as I work for Wal-Mart, am underpaid and could definitely use the cash - thanks). Anyway, Bob the reason why things are the way they are now has nothing to do with unions. Where in the world do you guys come up with that? Do you actually believe that unions are to blame for globalist economics? Look, the bottom line is that things are just going to get worse unless the people stand up and challenge what’s going on.

Generic Wal-Mart Wageslave in Michigan
Saturday, October 21 at 12:54 PM

Richard

You have, on more than one occassion, said that I am a paid bloger on this post. you have also said in the past that others were as well. For you to now try to deny it is a bit disingenuin, don’t you think?

DAVE SMITH
PROUD UNION IRONWORKER

IRONHEAD in idabel oklahoma
Saturday, October 21 at 02:52 PM

Dave,

YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR MIND!!!! And you must be mistaking me for someone else because I have NEVER said or accused ANYONE, either on the anti-Walmart or pro-Walmart side of being a paid blogger. I suggest you rethink that post and correct your accusations.

If you doubt me then I suggest you do as much research as you can to find any history in this blog or ANY blog that proves otherwise. I’ll wait for the apology and look forward to hearing it from you soon.

-Richard K

Richard K in
Saturday, October 21 at 05:54 PM

Richard-

They can’t tell when you are being sarcastic. If your posts didn’t go over their heads, there wouldn’t be a problem. I hope that doesn’t encourage you to stop, because I get a kick out of it every time.

Someone in USA
Saturday, October 21 at 06:21 PM

What do you bet you still get a response even though I posted that?

Someone in USA
Saturday, October 21 at 06:30 PM

Regardless of whether our fellow bloggers on this site are pro-Wal-Mart, anti-Wal-Mart, pro-union, or anti-union, I honestly do not think that “anyone” on this site, is a “paid” blogger. Or at least I would hope not! I would think that everyone has a mind of their own, and speaks from their own personal views. I also don’t think that everyone on here, is 100% pro, or 100% anti-Wal-Mart either. The causes for many of the issues discussed here, arrise from much larger issues. Mainly from the pro’s and con’s of the “trickle down” effect.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!! in Muncie,IN
Saturday, October 21 at 06:59 PM

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E

HOME OF WALMART WORKER ABUSE

Alex in Ontario, Canada
Monday, October 23 at 05:30 AM

Wal-Mart is a crap company that does little for Americans.
I think that they are very good for the rich foreign bussiness owners in China.

JM in USA
Monday, October 23 at 10:31 PM

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